F-150 Drive Shaft

[negro3030]

I have a 99 F-150 with a 1 piece drive shaft, it is aluminum and it is 77 inches long, I bent it once pre-running and cost me $500 to replace, I want to have one made that is 2 pieces, I was thinking of an F-250s 2 piece drive shaft cut to fit my application would this work or do you have any other suggestions, thank you?

[steveG]

Are you wanting to go to a 2 piece for ground clearance?

Personally, I'd try to find a spare out of a wrecking yard. I think that's one of the advantages of having a stock length driveshaft.

[negro3030]

well I want ground clearance and something stronger than aluminum, I would also like to try to pull out more travel out of a 2 piece for when I either link it or Deaver it...

[Alex Paterson]

I used Jess at High Angle drive line. The 2 piece shaft was about $500 and I bought a urthane carrier bearing from Empire drive line for $80. You will also need to make a bracket for the carrier bearing, I used the factory cross member and beefed it up a bit.

I have a factory shaft you can have, but I am in Tucson, AZ.

Alex

[lump-dog]

I just went through this in my supercrew. Don't simply replace it with another aluminum shaft, they just don't live. A small ding or dent will ruin one in a heartbeat. You can't build a 1 piece steel driveline that long. Don't waste your time with wrecking yard stuff, by the time you piece it together, and pay a driveline shop to cut to fit, you could've just had them build you a new one from scratch. Use all spicer stuff. My 2 piece cost me around $650, COMPLETE. You will have to build a mount for the carrier bearing, the driveline shop will help you with proper placement. If I recall correctly, the front half had to have a -5 degree angle, and the rear half needs to have around -9 degrees, at ride height.

[negro3030]

who built yours, do you get more travel out of it and more ground clearance...?

[lump-dog]

The local drive-line shop up here did it (Visalia). Any decent sized town would have a shop with a driveline machine. I don't think the driveline is/would be a limiting factor on travel. If I recall correctly, the stock driveline only plunged 1/2" from droop to full bump (deavers). As far as gound clearance, I guess you can say I gained a little since the carrier bearing is mounted higher than bottom of the frame rail. Neither of those things were determining factors for me getting a 2-piece though. Bottom line is, aluminum won't stand up to the abuse of rocks being thrown at it, and it's just too damn long for a 1 piece steel driveline.